Do you have these rights as a hard working, law abiding, tax paying voting citizen?....

Do you have free medical and mental health care? No you don't. So why do prisoners? Do you get free prescription medication? No you don't. So why do prisoners? Do you have free access to updated legal publications to defend yourself in court or to sue the government? No you don't. Then why do prisoners? Are you able to sue the government over the lack of medical or mental health treatment for your illness? No, you can't. Then why are prisoners able to, and why have the courts honored these lawsuits on YOUR taxpayer dime? And why have the courts appointed "Special Masters" (highly paid, incompetent academicians who find minuscule issues to bring back to the courts, only to justify their own existence and salaries) to guarantee prisoners receive these rights? Do you get free cable television? I know you don't, so why do prisoners? Here's the kicker....Can you get a FREE college education, up to a Doctorate Degree? NO YOU CAN'T....Actually, yes you can....Just go commit a felony and get sentenced to prison in California and the rest of us will pay for any and all of these "rights" for you.

Yes, protection of prisoners civil rights goes too far.

Prisoners are incarcerated for being extremely harmful to our society. Considering this, why would we uphold their civil rights to the same extent that we uphold law abiding citizens civil rights? It does not make sense to grant prisoners the same level of civil rights when they have broken the law.

Yes, they are in jail for a reason.

Prisoners should not be treated like they were in the 17th century of course. They should not be abused. But neither are they staying in a hotel of their own free will. Most are in jail because they did some horrible things and they should feel as if they are being restrained.

The Protection of Prisoners' Civil Rights Go Too Far.

Prisoners broke the laws of society, so society should not worry about protecting them. Prisoners need to be punished to as to deter other from breaking crimes. Tough punishments will also prevent recidivism. If prisoners wanted to be protected by the law, they should have thought about that before they broke it in the first place.

Once in jail, prisiners shouldn't have civil rights.

Once in jail a prisoner is considered in custody and should not have civil rights. Protecting prisoner's civil rights go way to far. The money spent on allowing prisoner's to exercise their civil rights could go to other needed and more deserving places, such as schools and rehabilitation programs. Once a prisoner is released and we are no longer paying for them to be held in custody then they should be able to apply for their civil rights back.

Not far enough

The prison system in America is a disaster. It creates a cycle for prisoners that perpetuates an ill well being for the people inside, who will come out not rehabilitated, but so "hardened" that they will inevitably lose control of their selves and end up returning to prison. Prisoners are human beings and need to be treated humanely.

No, it doesn't

The prisoner's rights are basic human rights. I don't believe that it is going to far to preserve basic dignities for prisoners. We don't have to be barbaric in our treatment of prisoners. We can punish prisoners in a way that is humane. Not all prisoners are violent criminals and it would be hard for me to justify harsh treatment for those people.

You can never go far enough with civil rights, no matter who gets them.

Yes, prisoners are in their cells for punishment. We must not forget that. However, when prisoners are serving their time, we have an extraordinary opportunity to reform them through a combination of education and demonstration of a better way of life. Part of that, a very vital part of that, should be protecting their civil rights.